REVIEW: Century of the Soldier by Paul Kearney

Century of the Soldier by Paul Kearney

Paperback: 814 pages
Publisher: Solaris - 2 Sep 2010 (UK)
ISBN-10: 1907519084
ISBN-13: 978-1907519086
Copy: Reading Copy sent by the publisher
Reviewer: Yagiz

The time of the wolf is at hand...

Struck down in his moment of victory, Hebrion's young King Abeleyn lies in a coma, his city in ruins and his fiancée and former lover vying for the throne.

Corfe Cear-Inaf, now a colonel, is given a ragtag command of ill-equipped savages and sent on a hopeless mission by a jealous King who expects him to fail.

Richard Hawkwood and Lord Murad return bearing news of horror on a savage new continent, with something terrible lurking in the hold.

The Church is tearing itself apart, even as the champions of truth fight to bring peace between Ramusian and Merduk; but in the far West, a terrible new threat is rearing its head...

The Century of the Soldier collects the final three books in Paul Kearney's explosive The Monarchies of God series, revised and expanded for this edition: The Iron Wars, The Second Empire and Ships From The West.

It felt great to go back to The Monarchies of God. I loved the first volume called Hawkwood and the Kings and I was really looking forward to this volume containing the last three books of the series.

"If I break faith with you then may the seas rise up and drown me, may the green hills open up and swallow me, may the stars of heaven fall on me and crush me out of life for ever" - The ancient oath of the mountain tribes

The book starts with a short recap section called "The Story So Far". Even though the two volumes are not published much apart, it's good to have such a section at the beginning. It can even be useful for future re-reads. The prologue that comes after is rather poignant and with the first chapter the reader gets introduced to a new character: Princess Isolla. Her character develops and promises good things for the rest of the book while King Abeleyn lies in a coma.

"A warrior's end for the last of the warrior kings. When you are gone, all the little men will come out from under the stones" - Golophin

The first book concentrates mainly on Corfe and his men-at-arms. We also read about the monks Albrec and Avila as the importance of their overall role starts to become more obvious. At the same time the court of Abrusio in Hebrion becomes the scene of intrigues during the unexplained absence of the King. The arrival of Princess Isolla, the sister of King Mark, adds a great twist to the story. The lovers of court intrigue and war scenes and manoeuvres will be delighted with this third book of the series.

"Soldiers die - that is what they do. They do not expect to fall, and so they keep going. But in the end that is what happens. Men who have no hope of life, they either cease to fight, or they fight like heroes. No-one knows why, it is the way of things."

While the third book talks only about the Old World, the forth book takes us back to the New World. It starts with Hawkwood and his companions.

An old prophecy from and old church man: "And the beast shall come upon the earth in the days of the Second Empire of the world. And he shall rise up out of the west, the light in his eyes terrible to behold. With him shall come the Age of the Wolf, when brother will slay brother. And all men shall fall down and worship him."

This forth book is probably my favourite in the series. Its end is so strong that my heart was stuck at my throat the way that I thought only Guy Gavriel Kay could do.

"When men have faith in themselves, Father, they do not need to have faith in anything else."

The first four books cover the events happening during a year. Whereas the fifth book's prologue jumps 9 years ahead. The prologue is followed by another jump in time, 6 years this time, with the start of the first chapter. Therefore the reader is carried 15 years in the future in the last book of The Monarchies of God. The concluding book of the series is different than the rest. It has a different tone.

A quick note about the extended sections: Because this is my first time reading the series, I couldn't compare the first publication with this one.

Throughout the series, especially towards the end, in various sections, I expected Kearney to write more but he knows how to get to the point and follow the main plot without stretching the sub-plot endlessly. I appreciated this side of his style.

One of the colourful things of The Monarchies of God is the secondary characters that are torn between good and evil, duty and moral, moral obligations and social pressure such as Aras and Betanza. Kearney's characters are extremely well worked out but even in these secondary characters he does a great job. Their dilemmas keep the reader on the edge.

One of the major differences between Kearney's characters and those of other authors of great epic fantasy stories such as Steven Erikson and Joe Abercrombie, is that Kearney's characters feel real. Reading Erikson or Abercrombie, I can find dozens of memorable quotes throughout the book, because their characters are wise in their own way. These great quotes lift the reader's spirit and create an aura around the character whom the reader attaches herself to. However Kearney's characters don't have that extra layer. They are just men and women like us, pushed to the front by the twists of fate or made heroes for some and cursed by others.

The second omnibus containing the last three books of The Monarchies of God delivers what was hoped after a great first volume and satisfies the expectations raised very high. Every page of this great series was an extreme pleasure to read and it was hard to turn the last page over memorable characters who are going to stay with me for the days to come. If you like epic fantasy such as G. R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire or Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen, do yourselves a favour and read The Monarchies of God.

Characterization: 10
Style: 9
Plot: 10

Overall Rating: 9.5/10